On Board Online • October 13, 2025
By Robin L. Flanigan
Special Correspondent
Huddled around a table in Rochester Technology Park, a group of teachers are talking about how they teach science to elementary students. Their goal: Give feedback for a planned update to curriculum for BOCES 4 Science, a joint curricular service of four BOCES in western New York.
Reed Sanchez, a teacher in the Penfield Central School District, pointed out that third-grade classrooms typically only have a New York State map on display. How about supplying everyone with a large world map? That would come in handy when teachers discuss topics such as weather and climate.
"There are only one or two days on climate" in the current version of a curricular unit, Sanchez added. That might not be enough for third-graders to grasp the difference between weather (what's happening in the atmosphere that will affect us soon) and climate (average, long-term conditions in a specific locale, such as a desert or a continent), she said.
Lisa Zeznick, assistant director of BOCES 4 Science, typed notes on her laptop. "That's a very good point," she said. "A critical learning target for the unit is to understand that distinction."
The discussion was part of a series of meetings organized by BOCES 4 Science, which is a collaboration among Genesee Valley BOCES, Monroe One BOCES, Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES and Wayne-Finger Lakes BOCES. It began in 2016, when the state Board of Regents approved new science learning standards.
The joint management team formed by the four BOCES taps the expertise of teachers in component districts to create lessons and materials for teachers of science in grades PK-12.
“We have created curriculum by New York State teachers for New York State teachers,” said Steven Montemarano Jr., director of BOCES 4 Science. School districts can lease curricular units and supporting resource kits for various grade levels through cooperative service agreements (CoSers).
Over three days in August, 20 teachers from about a dozen school districts brainstormed how elementary school science curriculum can be improved. In addition to discussing a unit called Investigating Weather & Climate, they covered six others, including:
- Pushes and Pulls.
- Save the Bees!
- Earth Processes in New York State
“We’re working collaboratively with teachers to ask, ‘How do we make this work in your classroom?’” Montemarano said. “This is about providing deep, rigorous curriculum and instruction that is authentic and meaningful.”
There was a lot of emphasis on teaching methods that will put students in the roles of tester, investigator and builder.
"We're moving from kids learning about science to kids figuring out science," Zeznick said.
In New York State, one measure of how well elementary students are learning science is a statewide assessment given in fifth grade. It covers state-mandated subjects that must be covered in third, fourth and fifth grades.
Zeznick noted that she and several of her team members have received training from the New York State Education Department's Office of State Assessment to ensure their curricular development work is aligned with state expectations.
Like many elementary school curriculums, the BOCES 4 Science units are designed to have students in various grades revisit key concepts such as observing phenomena, asking questions, conducting investigations, analyzing data and supporting claims with evidence.
That approach led to this question: How can kindergarteners get better at analyzing data? Kristy Markham, a kindergarten teacher in Kendall Central Schools, mentioned that fifth-grade teachers have been asking their colleagues at all lower grade levels to introduce additional charts and graphs so that students will be better prepared for the Elementary-level Science Test.
"The more exposure they have to those kinds of things, the better," Markham said.
Among the products that BOCES 4 Science will create as a result of these curricular planning sessions are "kits" that contain all the lab equipment, worksheets and instruction guides needed to teach various units. Currently, the service provides such material by shipping 26,000 totes per year to 120 school districts across the state. Most are in Western New York, but there are also districts using the kits on Long Island as well as in the Capital District, the Greater Southern Tier and the Adirondacks.
BOCES 4 Science has plenty of competition from other science curriculum providers, including other BOCES and sellers of curriculums based on national science standards.
Montemarano noted that educators are still trying to recover from disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, which was particularly ill-timed for elementary science education in New York State. That's because new state P-12 Science Standards went into effect in September 2019.
The World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak to be a pandemic in March 2020, and it said it was no longer an international public health emergency in May 2023. That forced a delay in BOCES 4 Science updating its curriculum.
"We always knew that as teachers lived with these new standards, and their students experienced them, they'd have great feedback for us," said Montemarano. "And we know we'll be able to make our product and services more aligned with their needs and wants-and still keep a really rigorous, hands-on experience."
Sanchez, the Penfield teacher, said that she was eager to participate in the feedback sessions because she has heard many teachers say that certain lessons did not yield the expected results.
"I wanted to make sure that BOCES was hearing what was actually happening in the classroom," she said. "As a third-grade teacher, I can only reach the students that I am lucky enough to work with each year. But to be involved in curriculum writing, I am able to influence more children."